Shillong: The Meghalaya govt has called for sustained coordination with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to improve Aadhaar coverage, ensure timely biometric updates and expand Aadhaar authentication for efficient delivery of public services.The issue was discussed at the state-level Unique Identification Implementation Committee meeting held in Shillong on Thursday. The meeting reviewed Aadhaar enrolment, demographic updates and authentication across the state, and identified priority areas for improving coverage.UIDAI deputy director general Ngachan Zimik presented an overview of Meghalaya’s Aadhaar status. He noted an upward trend in enrolment, demographic updates and authentication, while flagging areas requiring focused intervention.The meeting stressed the need to speed up Aadhaar enrolment among children aged 0–5 years through Birth Registration Based Aadhaar Enrolment at district hospitals and other health facilities, using the Birth Registration Number.It also called for increased enrolment in low-saturation districts and stronger coverage of Mandatory Biometric Updates (MBU) among children. The education department was urged to organise special MBU drives in schools.Zimik suggested integrating MBU status with the UDISE+ portal to help schools identify students due for mandatory biometric updates. He said timely updates could help students avoid authentication-related problems while accessing govt schemes and scholarships and appearing for examinations such as NEET, JEE and CUET.“Another key focus was the new Aadhaar App, the features of which include offline and QR-based verification, biometric lock/unlock facilities and simplified onboarding of Offline Verification Seeking Entities (OVSEs). Such features can facilitate Aadhaar-based verification in areas such as hotel check-ins, hospitals and age verification, among other use cases,” Gopajit Das, assistant director, Press Information Bureau, Meghalaya, said.Chief secretary Shakil P Ahammed stressed the need for coordinated, time-bound efforts by all departments in collaboration with UIDAI Regional Office in Guwahati to address the identified gaps.
